A Social Statement – The Upside Down House

It is a piece of social commentary art that speaks out against injustice and anti-humanitarianism.  It is a tourist attraction.  It is the labor of love conceived by a visionary Polish businessman and entrepreneur.   It is also an upside down house.

The Upside Down House photo courtesy of freshome.com

The aforementioned Polish businessman, Daniel Czapiewski, owns a company that builds wooden houses in just 21 days.  That is, they build wooden houses right side up in 21 days.  This upside down house took 114 days to build, mainly because the workers had to take frequent breaks.  The angles of the walls are disorienting, and the human body doesn’t like to feel like it’s not right side up.  Many of the thousands of tourists who have visited the upside down house have complained about dizziness and seasickness.  Pretty brilliant on Czapiewski’s part – because social injustice should make you feel a bit queasy.

The house is located in a small village called Szymbark.  Really small.  The town’s population is 520 people.  Szymbark is a Pomeranian Voivodeship in Northern Poland.  If you’re anything like us, you have no idea what that means.  Luckily, the internet is a wealth of information.  A Voivodeship is an area that is ruled by a Voivode – sort of like a governor.  Used to be the Voivode was a military leader, and Voivode was translated to mean “prince” or “duke” (thank you wikipedia!).  As for the Pomeranian piece of the puzzle, they ain’t talking about the little dog.  Pomerania is a region of Poland, very near Germany.

See?  And who says we never taught you anything?